TUESDAY, JULY 13th, 2004 TAKE 5 MINUTES TO CALL IMMIGRATION MINISTER JUDY SGRO
MOM FACES DEPORTATION TO UGANDA JULY 23  FORCED SEPARATION FROM KIDS
Before fleeing Uganda, Miriam Kutesa was forcibly confined at a military
"safe house" for 16 months where she was repeatedly raped. Despite this,
she lost her refugee claim in Canada. Experts have testified that she
suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder due to her horrific
experiences. She managed to settle in Canada, and now has two
Canadian-born sons (aged 4 and 6 months) and a partner here.
Nevertheless, Immigration Canada has denied every application for status
that she's filed. This is no aberration, as they deny 96% of Humanitarian
and Compassionate applications for permanent residence status. Instead
Immigration is paying to send her and her youngest son back to Uganda on
July 23rd. Her 4 year old son, Julian, is not included in the flight
itinerary. Please read the Toronto Star article included below and..

TUESDAY, JULY 12
CALL, FAX, EMAIL IMMIGRATION MINISTER JUDY SGRO

DEMAND THAT SHE USE HER LEGAL AUTHORITY TO STAY THE DEPORTATION AND GRANT
MIRIAM KUTESA PERMANENT RESIDENCE STATUS IN CANADA.

TORONTO STAR - JULY 3, 2004
Minister looks into deportation order
Mother of 2 says she was abused while in Uganda

Children's rights group urges Sgro to help woman

NICHOLAS KEUNG
IMMIGRATION/DIVERSTIY REPORTER

Immigration Minister Judy Sgro is reviewing the case of a refugee mother
who claims to have been repeatedly raped by a Ugandan military official.
An international children's rights advocacy group had urged the minister
to overrule a deportation order against the woman.

Simone MacAndrew, Sgro's spokesperson in Ottawa, told the Star the
minister is looking into the file of Miriam Kutesa. She was ordered
deported from Canada by July 30, despite expert testimony that confirmed
her post-traumatic stress disorder and depression as a result of the rape,
death threats and physical abuse.

The 26-year-old mother could face separation from her two Canadian-born
children, Julian 4, and Mark, 4 months.

"We have worked with many girls who have suffered from the type of abuse
that Miriam describes... and feel very strongly that this is a case that
merits your personal attention and intervention," Agnes Samler, president
of Defence for Children International Canada, wrote to Sgro.

The group has standing with the United Nations Committee on the Rights of
the Child.

"In our view, the Government of Canada would be violating the rights of
these children if it enforces the order," Samler wrote in a two-page
letter to Sgro.

Under the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, the group's
executive director Les Horne said, a child should not be separated from
their parents against their will unless such separation is necessary for
the best interests of the child.

"Julian and Mark should have the right to be cared for by their mother in
the country of their birth," Horne said.

Kutesa was a college student in Entebbe in 1998, when she was accosted by
her alleged abuser, she said. The man took her to a secluded military
"safe house," where the assaults are alleged to have taken place over the
next 16 months.

Her family helped her flee to Canada in 1999.

After her claim was rejected, Kutesa unsuccessfully tried to obtain a
federal court review, permanent residency on humanitarian and
compassionate grounds and a pre-removal risk assessment from immigration
officials.

Last week, the mother reluctantly walked into an immigration office to
sign a document to confirm her itinerary to leave Canada with her younger
son, Mark.

But that'd leave his 4-year-old brother Julian in the hands of the
Children's Aid Society because their employed father David Sewaya would
not be able to take care of him full-time with no assistance.

"I don't want my children to be looked after by strangers but I can't
really have them with me to face my abuser in Uganda," a weeping Kutesa
told a news conference in a Toronto church Thursday.